Tried it yesterday and i am very impressed. I.m.o this years has the most lift and hangtime form all Edges made. Nice and light on the bar and fast steering.

Cant wait to get it out in 30 knots.

Give it a demo try if you can.

My review on an 13m what a kite!

Rider: Weight,Level intermediate
Style: Freeriding, Surf,
Weather: 15 to 17/1&
Build Quality: ?/10 its ozone
Satisfaction: ?/10 its ozone
Disclosure: I seem to annoy those Who have no farqen idea

I'm only 75kg and it is blowing 20 to 25 in Perth, so maybe 15 to 17/18 here and had the trim only slightly pulled in( an inch maybe), and had no problems whatsoever taming and controlling the speed. Then again was on the shinn monk, what a beautiful pairing of kite and board. Translate that speed control into boost and glide and **** me!!

for years I have wanted to have a real good go on an edge, but I kept hearing how fast they track, gotta watch ya speed, high speed wipeouts, its a really high aspect race kite...

etc etc and this from experienced guys like darren at AKS who is one of the few I actually listen and take seriously what he says. He did say though it is the most perfect wing he's used and his fav...ha ha

So There was a little trepidation when putting the 13m up, because it wasn't light by any measure, but then again not cranking either. Kind of that time where you re wondering if she's about to kick in.
It did build but as per normal down here she backed off again when the in filling air hits that damn cold estuary air! Don't believe me just cast your eye over the charts today. Bloody wind hole.

Anyhow...we all know and have read from others how they fly, so I needn't bang on about that, nor have I flown previous years to compare.

But I will say this, don't be scared off trying this kite. If anything it will help you new gen kiters actually learn how to edge properly and understand the interaction of board edge and kite speed. It boosts, glides and lands just as crew have been saying for years and even the 13 is not slow. You don't need a darting kite when the wing is so efficient, track a little downwind, kite speed up, lock in and you can ride as long as you want, effortless, controlled, precise, just beautiful and with bull**** edged speed. Play of words intended.

It did take me three separate goes ( swapping with my bro), to really dial it in. And Rusty my man, I kept running through what you said about boosting with this kite, and by the 3rd hour, it clicked. Don't choke this sucker, let speed be your friend, tension the lines with board edge not bar work, drop that back heel, leave the water as ya let that bar out (which can be counter intuitive to the more lower aspect kites I've used), pull it in near the top up ya go further and gliiiiiiiiiiddddddddeeee....eeee......eeee and sometime later land as soft as butter. Man you could do whatever up there!! Don't matter if ya get all disorientated, from leaving the water at weird angles, upside down and without any perception of where you happen to me relative to the beach, water and wind...no probs, plenty of time to sort ya **** out.

If ya got a bit of free ride in ya blood, ( don't get put off because it is one the best, if not the best race kite out there) and enjoy actually flying a kite with as much precision as possible ( this is a true wing), at least try one, I dare ya. And get it out in some top third winds to!!

As I said dont be put off, my bro is really only starting to hit his straps this year after using so,e decent kites (rebel and Vegas, amazing what good kites will do to progress someone), and he just loved it to. Didn't like the price i told him they go for though ha ha ha

A big thanks to Jason for Westoz, for letting me crack open two brand new kites to demo. What a champ!! Gonna hit him up for the 11m next. Yeehaaa...had to laugh, here I am riding lithuims, low aspect tractors with some refined forward flying built in, get on one of the most highest aspect kites and love it as well, and probably more....I think I need my head read! Lucky Jason's a casual relaxed dude, he must be wondering wtf is wrong with me as well!!

Also tried the 10m cat, not enough wind really, so comments later if I get some wind in her.

In a nutshell(look at me I'm in a nutshell), the squares C wing design, creates a more precise feel than the 2011 model I had flown. Very quick turning, fastest 10 I have ever used, so I reckon a 12 would still be really workable. Really easy and controlled for back roll, back loops, down loops etc etc, but the C in it, does give you that extra pull through the loop which is real nice, nothing to knock ya socks off, but it is there. Flies forward nicely as all ozone do, nice bar pressure etc etc etc, bla bla bla ozone is ozone right! We all know how they feel. If ya don't, we'll too bad I suppose. Drifts just fine etc

But as per my other crack on it, it is too soft for me, too easy. Suite a beginner or intermediate trying to push the envelope a bit. Or as plummet has said before a high wind stable kite. Oh yeh shorten the back lines to the top knot as well under the floats, much better. Ta jeff.

Chow

And the 11m...

Righto, got out on the 11m today, twice. Once at the pond in about 20 to 23 (readings said 23 to 25 but I didn't believe it), then at secret harbour with Munro. Now his wind meter was saying 18 to 21, 22 gusting to 26, but at times it felt like a sh1t load more than that, yet less as well, it was a gusty day all round.

As wishy, cauncy and a few others have said to me, the 11m is the sick size for free ride in this particular kite concept and they are not wrong. Given my small time on these, personal technique flaws and the fact that it was a demo from Westoz( ta Jason.... Again!), I would say I was tapping into 40 to 60 percent of its potential and still going big enough to make me speechless at times and start dribbling incoherently as I venture out to sea wondering wtf just happened. Just a kind of perplexed slack jawed vacant stare as beeblebrox must have felt in hitch hikers guide to the galaxy when his mind was exposed to the universe for a split second.

So I went to secrets for three no four reasons ( would have rather just head back home to my platform friendly local), one to see an edge rider on the new ones and ask him what he thought, to get on his new epic screamer 9m, to see how my 75kg frame would hold up to onshore mushy crap in 20 plus knots on the 11 edge and also to actually meet Munro as he's had a rough trot lately. Real nice guy, was a pleasure to catch up.

Anyhow enter the amateur, choppy as hell, waves coming in at all farqen angles, 20 plus on the 11m edge, basically the worst set of water conditions for riding a kite that needs to be edged continually as the apparent wind builds, to add, just after what you could call waves, I would tend to call them dogSh1t, just rising and falling swells at every angel possible, yeh an edges nightmare. I thought Farq here we go...but alas although I had to hold my speed at sea, this was not a problem really, even when losing the edge, bang the back foot in on the next swell line and presto. Man it was gusty wind today, and the edges stability is amazing, it doesn't shoot forward and back, just absorbs it. I wouldn't say I was comfortable, but give me a month or so on these and I would be calmly cautious...although I probably would have dropped down a size.

Coming into the waves, I'm starting to consider this is a bloody good TT surf kite, a TT that can hold a big edge mind you. Wouldn't be caught dead on a SB on this beast, but the continual refined pull, can be translated into some real high speed cranking surf runs. Anyhow TT riding is not really surfing, but bloody fun nevertheless. Again some of the jumps even at 50 to 60 percent potential were outstanding. Do two jumps and you are a loooong way downwind, but one tack and ya back.

Anyhow enough from the edge smuck, enter the expert. Riding edges for a while this guy and been at it since 1999 so I already had respect for him ( yes gen y look it up in the dictionary you piss ant soft cocks), where was I, oh yes ...on his CB tempo (again respect) with minimal flex, yeh he was going up man. Smooth, glide and nice land, infact I crashed three times on his epic screamer looking back watching him jump! Well looking back and up up up.

More importantly than all that previous bullsh1t ( yeh even I know it is), he said the 2013 is a much improved kite in that he always had to watch his edge on the 2012, could indeed get too much speed ( I'm paraphrasing now as it was blowing a gale), but he always felt he could control it.

I think Munro said "yes this is kite is more efficient". So there you have it, at least I could bring you all an opinion of someone who actually counts as opposed to the stupid author of this post.

As a side I did go out on his screamer 9m, and I feel I went down another cog and found only 40 percent of its jumping efficiency, but Farq me that kite packs a serious punch, serious air, and if ya not careful it could rip ya balls off and stuff them in ya mouth. But that's for another post.

Hope this helps padres.

Some other dude on the 9m

To add some more to Eppos review.....Can't normally be bothered typing a review but hey I've got time so why not.

Had a chance to review the new Edge and Cat recently and heres what I thought.

The 9m Edge. Wanted to try for donkeys as Eppo says. I thought it might be similar to the Switch I have being high aspect and based on what I'd read ie loves speed and gets more powerful the faster you go and faster the more powerful etc resulting in scary speed. Well it was a lot more civilised than the switch in that way, which I find needs a lot more edging, speed control in decent winds else you'll be doing warp speed in no time. The edge did build power with speed but in a nicer way...more refined?? It had a lot more depower on the bar than I'd expected and while it wasn't as much as the cats, I expected little so was really surprised. It was slower to turn than the cats but expected and not what its meant to do. I know its a race kite but I have no interest as yet in 2m long fins and giant expensive boards and going in a straight line (else I'd be into windsurfing )))) so my main interest was boost. I had big expectations and wasnt dissapointed. The lift is not savage but not gentle either. My most memorable sessions are on the small cats in 30+ and being ripped off the water....it doesn't do that but it does give MENTAL hangtime which I would take a very long time to get bored of. So in a sentence, much friendlier than I'd expected, great boost, not sure you could get more hangtime without buying a paraglider, relatively slow turning and better depower than you might think. If you want to ride fast and glide around the place, perfect.

The Cat 10m. Fast. My 10m cat isn't actually a cat, its the light xc which was what the cat replaced and I think is very similar. I learnt on mine, my mrs learnt on mine and so did my brother. Its been punished.....dumped in waves a couple of times etc. It just won't die and still flies great. The new cat is 4 models newer than my 10m and apart from feeling a little quicker, I notice not a huge difference! The new cat looks smaller in the sky (think this is down to the new arc shape) and felt a little weaker for size. I suspect it is actually a little smaller than my old 10m contributing to increase in speed. From the few people who've reviewed them, the feeling is its a totally different ride- used to be a beginners/wave kite, new one so much better etc. Sorry, I don't feel it and this is probably down to my lack of awesomeness but for me its hugely similar to the last few years-which is an awesome all round high quality kite that doesn't seem to do anything badly, so nothing wrong with that.

As soon as Jason gets the new C4's I'll be demoing and probably buying about 30 minutes later. I think the C4 will be a good compromise of performance and forgiveness/usablility. I would like a complete quiver of every Ozone water kite but this is not going to happen. I love the edge but I have a shared quiver with my wife who would probably not enjoy it to much + I want to start getting into looping and this is not the kite for this as far as I can tell. The Cat does nothing wrong but I just think the C4 will be more fun to fly, and hopefully rip me off the water much better as well as give some more power in turns for carving action (cat is a little weak here). I want a C4 with bottom end similar or slightly less than 10m Cat but will wait and see what the feeling is regarding this years batch. They seem to get more bottom end every year from what I read....recall the first C4 being consistently rated as weak for comparable size...will see.

Cheers

PS Jason and Sonja at Westoz (who give me nothing to say this other than good service) are great to deal with as above people have said. Jason will happily pull new kites out for you to demo and is hugely knowledgeable in lots of different riding styles but humble and understated (good aussie trait) and Sonja could teach a lot of people in retail how to do business rather than just order product, add 50-100% and sell. Always calls back etc...just good service, hard to find these days.

2010 had a bigger LE and and better low end, slightly slower turn and better boosting
i had 2010 11 edge and now 2010 13m edge.

2011 + they drop it down to a 5 strut design. so thats a major design change. I haven't flown the any 2011+ edges. but i understand they turn alot faster and go down wind better while still having the same booost/upwindperfomance.

I have the 2012 11m - nice kite love it.
Had the 2011 11m - ok bit slow.
Tried all the edges prior to 2011 - not great - mushy feeling and 2010 heavy and slow.
Have the 2013 17m love it - crisp and light in the air and bar for a big kite - replaced my waroo pro 17m.
Have the 2013m 13m - hate it - sluggish and has no where the feel of the 11 or 17. Can't sell it even at 30% less than new.
Morale of the story - try before you buy - all sizes......

Kurt wrote:I have the 2012 11m - nice kite love it.
Had the 2011 11m - ok bit slow.
Tried all the edges prior to 2011 - not great - mushy feeling and 2010 heavy and slow.
Have the 2013 17m love it - crisp and light in the air and bar for a big kite - replaced my waroo pro 17m.
Have the 2013m 13m - hate it - sluggish and has no where the feel of the 11 or 17. Can't sell it even at 30% less than new.
Morale of the story - try before you buy - all sizes......

Really I demoed both the 13 and 11 and I felt they both flew similar, the 11m just a tad less pull and yeh I suppose crisper as you would expect. Is it because you are in a 17m mind frame and accept its limitations but expect more from the 13? Email me, how much you want for it?

As far as turning goes don't need a fast turning kite when it develops such apparent wind. That's what I love about them.